London cabbies protest Uber's 'unregulated' invasion

London's black cabs are planning to protest against TfL for not
enforcing regulations that should apply to minicabs to smartphone
taxi service Uber.

The Licensed Taxi Drivers
Association (LTDA) is not happy that Uber cabs calculate fares
through apps on mobile phones, which the LTDA argues count as
meters, which aren't allowed in London minicabs.

"Private hire vehicles in London aren't allowed meters. Minicabs
don't need one because you pre-book them," explains the LTDA's
Steve McNamara, adding that Uber does this so it can charge
different fares at different times -- surge charging.

Uber's General Manager in the UK and Ireland Jo Bertram pointed
Wired.co.uk to a TfL statement where it declared that "smartphones used by
private hire drivers -- which act as GPS tracking devices to
measure journey distances and relay information so that fares can
be calculated remotely from the vehicle -- do not constitute the
equipping of a vehicle with a taxi meter".

The second area of complaint is around the interpretation of the
rules around minicab licensing, which requires the receiver of the
booking to have a licence. The LTDA argues that individual Uber cab
drivers receive bookings and that Uber acts more like Paypal. As a
result, it argues that the individual drivers need licences, and
not just Uber. Uber contests this and says that it takes the
bookings and that it has an operators licence.

"It's like when you buy a saucepan online and you use Paypal to
pay for it. Your transaction is with the guy you bought the
saucepan from, not with Paypal," McNamara told Wired.co.uk. "With
Uber, the guy taking the booking is the operator and so needs a
licence and a licenced operating centre which can't be a car."

"One day there'll be a major accident in one of these cars and
there will be a multimillion pound claim and an insurance company
will look at it and say that the hiring didn't take place through a
licensed operating centre so it won't be insured," he added.

Bertram points out that the intention of the law is to protect
passengers and that there are many public safety measures that
technology like Uber's can bring. "The point of knowing who accepts
the booking is so that there's traceability. We have the name,
photo and registration of the driver, you can share a live map of
the journey with family and friends and get a full copy of the
details in a receipt."

Despite these complaints about Uber, the LTDA says its main
issue is with Transport for London (TfL): "Our beef is with TfL,
not Uber -- it's just another minicab firm, the new kid on the
block. TFL is not enforcing the law. We have to jump through lots
of hoops and laws and so do minicabs. Most of us comply with the
laws and regulations and if we don't we have TfL all over us."
McNamara speculates that TfL is frightened of Uber because it came
in with funding from Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Goldman Sachs with
"lots of sharp lawyers" and "TfL just rolled over".

Wired.co.uk questioned whether some of the rules around whether
London's cabs could have meters could be changed. McNamara said:
"Yes they could, but in the meantime it's illegal."

"I'd be happy if Uber complied with the same rules as everybody
else. All we are asking for is a level playing field." To complain
about these issues, there's going to be a mass demonstration in
central London of between 8,000 and 12,000 black cabs, who will
cause "chaos, congestion and confusion".

Mcnamara says: "This demonstration is against TfL for them
refusing to enforce the law and kowtowing to Uber."

In Bertram's eyes, the protest is "a little bit ironic". "The
taxi industry is talking about bringing London to a stand still
while Uber is trying to take people from A to B as quickly as
possible."

This isn't the first time that Uber has faced challenges from
incumbent taxi services. It's been banned in Brussels and has been
targeted by protests in the US and Paris. Bertram puts this
down to fear of competition. "We are bringing competition to a
market that hasn't been shaken up for years in most countries and
markets, providing a choice for both customers and drivers."